Pavement compensation is costing councils dear

25 Aug 09
Compensation claims for accidents involving pavement trips have cost each council in England an average of £1m over the past five years, according to figures obtained by the Liberal Democrats
By Jaimie Kaffash

25 August 2009

Compensation claims for accidents involving pavement trips have cost each council in England an average of £800,000 over the past five years, according to figures obtained by the Liberal Democrats.

The figures, released on August 24, showed that £82m had been paid out since 2004/05 by the 99 councils surveyed. Leeds City Council was the worst offender, spending more than £10m over the period.

Norman Baker, LibDem transport spokesman, said:  ‘With council and household budgets under more pressure than ever, the last thing the local taxpayer needs is to be paying massive compensation claims for injuries caused by dangerous pavements.

‘It appears that some councils seem to be making the cynical calculation that they can afford to pay out compensation rather than invest in improving pavements. This could prove to be a costly mistake if pavements are allowed to deteriorate too far.’

But the Local Government Association hit back, saying that work was being done and improvements were being made. A spokesman said: ‘The figures have shown that councils have reduced massively the amount they are paying out in compensation claims. Over the last five years it has dropped from £28m a year to less than £7m now.’

He added that councils have been making efforts in inspecting pavements and encouraging members of the public to report problems. He also said that the rise in ‘no win, no fee’ law firms had increased the amount councils have been forced to pay out.

‘We’re not saying that all “no win, no fee” claims are a bad thing; it lets people who would otherwise have no access to justice to get their dues. That said, our research showed that, after “no win, no fee” was introduced, nine out of ten councils saw the number of claims rise.’

The LGA is also concerned about fraudulent cases, but he added that councils had been ‘working with the police to find out who potential fraudsters might be’.

A spokeswoman for Leeds council said that the figures showed an improvement in the council’s performance. ‘As the second largest metropolitan council in the country - with more than 750,000 residents and over 100,000 commuters coming into the city centre every day - we are inevitably going to have higher figures than most local authorities,’ she said.  

‘Our ongoing investment, inspection and maintenance programme, coupled with an increase in our defence of claims in court, means we have seen a downward trend in the number and value of compensation claims over the last four years. These figures are significantly lower still than the figures for the four year period before that.’

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